As Cirque Du Soleil returned to the Royal Albert Hall in January 2023 with their new show Kurios, let us show you how Gallowglass Crew from London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol helped bring the impressive show back to London in 2022.
After a rather tricky couple of years the world’s largest circus troupe returned to London in 2022: the Royal Albert Hall hosted Cirque du Soleil’s Luzia, which hit the hall in January.
This will be the Cirque’s first show in the UK for two years, with its original run last year being cut short by the pandemic and formed part of the Royal Albert Hall’s 150th anniversary celebrations. The performance will be the kind of visual extravaganza that Cirque du Soleil is known for, set in a world inspired by Mexico and its culture and stories, and promises to be more technically advanced than what normally graces the Hall.
Traditionally these shows are rolled into a big top, not a 150 year old building with its narrow passageways and idiosyncrasies, where they can be erected straight from the trucks.
With 16 crew in over 3 days before Christmas for pre-rig and pull testing the pace was set for the build proper. We traditionally start new year’s day and surprisingly we never have a problem finding crew keen to jump on it, might have something to do with double pay but I think they just love the job!
We spend the next 11 days on site, day & night, supporting the rigging, lighting, sound, set, carpentry & the props teams; 190 crew for over 2500 hours.
Nothing is ever simple or ‘standard’ with a Cirque show and this one was no different, from the water tanks housing 6000 litres which is recycled, disinfected and kept at a rather balmy 82° to the 3628kg industrial treadmills which have been adapted from the mining industry and all this needs to get into the hall and set up for the 6 week run.
As always with these shows the derig has to be done quickly and efficiently ready for the next artist to come into the Hall and Luzia to roll on to the next city.
2022 also marked 25 years since Cirque du Soleil first brought its captivating magic to the hall with over 3.5 million spectators witnessing their awe-inspiring shows.
Check out the upcoming performances: https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/
